Cabinet construction



June 25, 1940. s. F. FORSTHOEFEL CABINET cons'mucnou Filed Sept. 29 1936I 3% "45" Ha. I)

INVENTOR Geese F. ERSrHoEI-EL ATTORN Patented June 25, 1940 UNITEDSTATES PATENT OFFICE 2,205,780 I CABINET CONSTRUCTION Company, East wtPennsylvania Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation Application September 29,1936, Serial No. 103,074

2 Claims. My invention relates to a cabinet construction for heatinsulated refrigerator cabinets.

It is an object of my invention to provide an improved breaker stripconstruction for such a cabinet and to provide a breaker strip andcabinet construction in which nails and screws for fastening the breakerstrip to the cabinet are dispensed with.

It is another object of my invention to provide a breaker strip which isextremely pleasing in appearance and which is exceptionally durable.

These and other objects are efiected by my invention as will be apparentfrom the following description and claims taken in connection with theaccompanying drawing, and forming a part of this application, in which:

Fig. l is a'front view of a refrigerator cabinet embodying my invention,shown with the door open;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the refrigerator cabinet taken on line11-11 of Fig. i;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line Ill-III of Fig.11, showing the cabinet with the door closed, and also the breakerstrips;

and,

Fig. i is an enlarged sectional view of my improved breaker strip.

iii)

Referring specifically to the drawing for a detailed description of myinvention, in Figs. 1 and 2, numeral ll designates generally arefrigerator cabinet embodying a cabinet body portion it. The bodyportion it includes a food storage compartment it having aheat-absorbing element i i disposed therein and an access opening itprovided in the front of the cabinet. A door 6 t is provided for closingthe access opening.

Referring now to Fig. 2 of the drawing, the body portion it of thecabinet is formed of an outer metal shell ll having a front marginalportion it and an inturned flange it) extending peripherally of theaccess opening it. The food storage compartment is is formed from afivesided metal inner shell it having an outturned flange 22 extendingperipherally of the access opening with the edge 23 thereof facing theedge 26 of the flange it on the outer shell ii. A heat breaker 25, shownin detail in Figs. 3 and 4, is provided for connecting and spacing theedges 23 and 2d of the inner and outer shells, respectively.

The heat breaker is is formed Preferably of a non-hygroscopicnon-metallic impregnated moulded material in the form of a relativelyrigid strip 2i. Strips of metal 28 are provided on each longitudinaledge of the rigid strip 2i and extend substantially the entire lengththereof. The strips of metal are preferably formed of'a non- 4 corrodingmaterial, such as stainless steel,-or are coated with a bright metal,such as chromium. The strips of metal 28 are bent to provide a groove orclip 29 at one longitudinal edge thereof to engage the longitudinal edgeof the rigid nonmetallic strip 27!. The metal forming the strips 28 ispreferably of sumcient thickness that once bent, it is not readilydeformable, but nevertheless, is inherently flexible to a slight degreeso that the clip 29 will grip the edge of the strip 2'! with sufiicientforce that the metal strip 23 will not fall off the non-metallic stripill. The metal strips 28 are provided with another clip 3! bent to formoutwardly facing grooves 32 extending substantially the entire length ofthe non-metallic strip 21. As shown best in Figs. 1 and 3, the assembledheat breaker is is formed in four pieces and is attached to the cabinetby inserting the edge portions 23 and 2d of the inner and outer shellsll and M in the grooves 32 formed in the metal strips it. The clips 31]form-- ingthe grooves 32 also preferably grip the edge portions of theinner and outer shells H and ill. Corner clips 33 cover the jointbetween the heat breaker 25 at the corners of the access opening (Fig.1). After the heat breaker 25 has been assembled by sliding the metalstrips it onto the non metallic strip El, and the assembled breakerattachedto the cabinet body portion 92 in the manner described above,the inner shell ll and the outer shell 2! are pulled together to clampthe breaker 25 between them, the breaker then. serving as a heat breakand as a spacing member'for the inner and outer shells ill and 2t. Inorder to pull the inner and outer shells together, the back of the outershell ll is provided with a removable panel 36 (Fig. 2). Brackets it areattached to the front marginal portions it; of the outer shell and steelstraps 36 are attached thereto, encompassing the inner shell it, asshown in' Fig. 2. The straps 36 are pulled up tight and connected asshown at 3i, thereby holding the inner and outershells in properposition. Heat insulation All is disposed between the shells, and theremovable back panel 36 is attached to the outer shell ll.

The door it for the cabinet is formed of an outer shell 31 and an innershell 38. The shells have inturned flanges 39 and ll, respectively,

44, respectively, of the flanges 39 and 4|. Heat insulation 45 isinserted between the outer and inner 'door shells 31 and 38 and theshells are pulled t'ogether by means of a screw -4t which engages athreaded block 47 welded to the outer shell 31. Corner clips 48 areprovided at the corners of the door Hi to cover the Joint between theheat breaker at the corners. A sealing gasket 49 is attached to anoverlapping portion 5| of the door it and engages the marginal portioniii of the cabinet body portion it.

When heat breakers 25 and 42, formed as shown and described are appliedto a refrigerator cabinet, nails and screws for attaching the heatbreakers are completely dispensed with. Furthermore, if the grooves forattaching the heat breakers to the cabinet are formed in the nonmetallicstrip 2! rather than in the metal strips 28, there is a tendency for theedges of the inner and outer shells to cut the non-metallic strip, whichresults in wear and permits moisture to enter the heat insulation. Inaddition, the metal trim at the edge of the breaker strip which isexposed to view presents an extremely pleasing very little time andeffort.

From the foregoing it will be apparent that I have provided an improvedrefrigerator cabinet and breaker strip construction which is durable,inexpensive and pleasing in appearance.

While I have shown my invention in but one form, it will be obvious tothose skilled in the art that it is not so limited but is susceptible ofvarious changes and modifications without departing from the spiritthereof, and I desire, therefore, that only such limitations shall beplaced thereupon as are imposed by the prior art or as are specificallyset forth in the appended claims.

What I claim is:

1. In a refrigerator cabinet construction embodying a cabinet having asubstantially rectangular access opening therein and a door for closingthe access opening, the combination of spaced inner and outer shellshavingopposed flanges with spaced-apart edge portions surrounding theaccess opening, the flange of theinner shell defining the boundaries ofthe access opening, the flanges on any one side of said opening lying insubstantially a common plane,

abreaker strip of non-hygroscopic heat-insulating material bridging thespace between the shells and overlapping the outer surface of the flangeof at least one of the shells, means extending between said shells forpreventing separation thereof, means extending substantially around theperiphery of said rectangular access opening for securing said breakerstripto the flange of said one shell and including a connecting strip ofmetal having one edge bent to engage the breaker strip on both of itsopposing surfaces adjacent the edge thereof and having its other edgebent to form a pocket on the inner side thereof for receiving the edgeportion of the flange of said one shell, the bends in the edges of theconnecting strip extending in substantially opposite directions and theintermediate portion of the connectingstrip being substantially flat andlying between the outer face of the flange of said one shell and thebreaker strip, and means for securing the other edge of the breakerstrip to the other shell in overlapping relation with a portion thereof.I

2. In a refrigerator cabinet construction embodying a cabinet having asubstantially rectangular access opening therein and a door for closingthe access opening, the combination of spaced inner and outer shellshaving opposed flanges with spaced-apart'edge portions surrounding theaccess opening, the flange of the inner shell defining the boundaries ofthe access opening, the flanges on any one side of said access openinglying in a substantially common plane, a breaker strip ofnon-hygroscopic heat-insulating material bridging the space between theshells and overlapping the outer surfaces of the respective flanges,means extending between said shells for preventing separation thereof,and means extending substantially around the periphery of saidrectangular access opening for securing said breaker strip to theflanges of both of said shells and including connecting strips of metal,each having one edge bent to engage the breaker strip on both of itsopposing surfaces adjacent the edge thereof and having its other edgebent to form a pocket on the inner side thereof for receiving the edgeportions of the flanges of said shells, the bends in the edges of theconnecting strips extending in substantially opposite directions and theintermediate portions of the connecting strips being flat and lyingbetween the outer faces of said flanges and the breaker strip.

GREGG F. FORSTHOEFEL.

